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⫸STICKY⫷ Australian Opiate Withdrawal Maintainance Medication Prescribers

MrIbis

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Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,950
Hi all,

Recently, i've relapsed back into heavy heroin abuse. up to an 8ball a day. pretty serious shit.

Now i'm not a bad guy - but i managed to blow alot of cash on said drug, and its hurting my family to see me this way.

I've done a bit a research into suboxone programs and the like, turning point have been a great help.

So i figured i'd make a thread outlining the services we have available to anyone in my position - who wants off, the legal way.

Auswide services provided by leftwing:
Getting help in Australia

Drug and Alcohol Services SA

Eastern Drug and Alcohol Services - VIC/NSW

Direct Line 1800 888 236 - Counseling, detox and maintenance in Melbourne

Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drugs Branch - QLD

-Damascus Health Services - Suboxone, In/Out patient treatment of alcohol and Rx dependency in Brisbane

Drug and Alcohol Office - WA

http://www.na.org.au Narcotics Anonymous SA

Victoria:

If you're in Melbourne there are 5 health services for injecting drug users that were set up at beginning of this decade - good places to go if you inject anything - also have needle exchanges attached:
Collingwood - Inner Space on Johnson St near cnr Smith. They have their own prescribing doctors too
St Kilda - Access Health on Gray St - next to Crisis Centre which has 24hr needle exchange
Footscray - Health Works cnr Nicholson & Buckley
Dandenong - SEADS Foster St clinic
Melb CBD - Living Room Hosier Lane [thanks to ayjay]
Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre @ 54 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, Melbourne
For clinic appointments, referrals or information about clinical services at Turning Point, call the Intake Team between 9.30am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.
Services include counselling, pharmacotherapy & needle/syringe exchange
T: 03 8413 8444
http://www.turningpoint.org.au

If you're in the northern suburbs of melbourne contact;
Panch Health Service 300 Bell Street Preston 3072. Phone: (03) 9485 9000

If you're in the eastern suburbs of melbourne see Dr Ernie Andrada at MediClinic in Clayton. PH: 03 95441555


Canberra:

The Alchol and Drug Program Opiate Treatment Service
Building seven The Canberra Hospital
Palmer Street Garran
Phone: (02) 6244 2591

Canberra'a public clinic for opiate maintenance and treatment; doctors there are a part of the chapter of addiction medicine, there is a psychiatrist on staff and a psychiatric registrar part time, access to counselling services, social work, sexual health clinics, and case management services. People wanting to start on methadone treatment are assessed by an Alcohol and Drug Program (ADP) medical officer to determine if they are suitable for treatment. This involves taking a history and conducting a physical examination. If suitable, an induction process will be started, usually on the day of medical assessment. Clients continue to be reviewed by a medical officer while receiving methadone. The doctor enquires about drug use, health and other psychological and social factors. Prescriptions for methadone are reviewed every three months.

Otherwise, contact DirectLine - 1800888236.


They will find you a prescribing doctor and pharmacy with a position for you.

The only other things i can suggest you do are - Once you get onto the program, be polite and form a good relationship with your pharmacist, it makes it alot easier if you're hard up for cash or something like that - even for other prescriptions etc - if they trust you, they'll help you out.

anyone else from other suburbs in melb, or other states even, add to this thread, or pm me - and i'll add your prescriber to the list.
 
Last edited:
nice thread idea mr ibis:) ill be sure to find some links to add

weve got a similar thread in OD that rolls started so if i browse through that ill definitely have some

im currently having trouble being able to find a doctor in my area at the moment to switch over to bupe
 
Where abouts are you mate? i seriously suggest you contact directline immediately. they're open 24/7 - and will get your info, find you some docs and tell you to call back in half an hour - and will have the info ready for you..

Counsellingonline.com.au is also run by them - they have access to the info too, so speak to them if you'd rather not call
 
im up in qld. thats great to know, i will get around to calling them tomorrow. ill check out that website though.

what im trying to achieve is go through a supervised detox in a hospital setting to reasses my pain and start seeing a PM doctor instead of only going through my doctor. ive been on transdermal bupe patches in the past and have used subutex before and its perfect for me. eases my pain and kills cravings.
 
Good thread idea MrIbis, perhaps we can have Aus-wide resources listed here who will help you get onto bupe. Best of luck getting clean.
 
Don't forget methadone! Bupe just doesn't suit everyone :)
 
^Ah yeah, i had a bad experience coming off methadone in the past..

It was far worse than heroin to come off.. and i basically did it cold turkey, bar the aid of some tramadol off my mum every so often. Tramadol seems to work pretty well during withdrawal for easing the symptoms. but yeah, if methadone is your choice, go for it, most chemists and doctors offer both - but prefer bupe (suboxone) for the obvious reasons

Hoptis; As i said, in the interest of harm min, i made this thread - i want people from all states to PM me their information on reliable doctors that can help, and pharmacies.. and i'll happily add it to the list at the top of the thread.. perhaps make it a sticky. its a handy resource.
 
^yeah definitely worse withdrawal for 'done. Although you can transfer from done to bupe once you're around the 30mg mark, then taper off the bupe. If you like having the odd tickle every once or twice a fortnight, generally easier to manage on 'done (no risk of precipitated withdrawal) than bupe.

Incidentally, there is an interesting doco out "Fighting the Dragon with luck" - interviews people on pharmacotherapy at chemist in Brunswick - worth a look...
 
hey ayjay , u not from glenhuntly are u ?

soz , jst thought id ask lol
 
^not from glenhuntly!

You've got a few options:
1. go it alone. If you find the withdrawal symptoms manageable then set aside a week to go cold turkey
2. Get some advice - ring Direct Line as above or check out www.counsellingonline.org.au
3. Get assessed - book in assessment at local AOD service (maybe EDAS if in eastern suburbs?) and see what they have to say - you can always make up your own mind as to whether it is useful.

Or any combination of the above. I of course don't know your whole story, but pharmacotherapy may not be your best option at this stage. Check out what's out there and make up your own mind though :)
 
Yeah if you're just using codeine every so often, you probably don't need pharmacotherapy and are more thinking of it as a way to get wasted cheaply daily. It's not fun believe me.. if i could go cold turkey i would.. but it'd be unbearable.


Perhaps if you are that worried, book in for an assessment for a week long detox program..
 
I've noticed that the friends you seek for assistance or never there for you when it comes to drugs. I've tapered off of codeine, use to go through 40 pack nurofens a day. Now, I'm only down to 12.
 
^You're CWEing those nurofens right? otherwise you most likely have some kind of stomach problem like a peptic ulcer...

see a doctor mate.
 
good stuff, i just got concerned...

u realise codeine also has a ceiling dose of like 600-800mg... and is inactive after that...
 
hey i was drinking a 200ml bottle of robitussin or CWE 50 panadeine tablets to get 400mg of codeine a day...

I went onto 8mg suboxone then onto 60mg methadone.

Its been 3-4 months and ive stayed clean since day 1 of treatment... oh except that one time lol

Im now on half as much methadone, but my clinic in box hill is closing down so im going to reduce my dose as low as i can and then jump off cold turkey around mid december with my drs help,

If your in the eastern suburbs of melbourne see Dr Ernie Andrada at MediClinic in Clayton. PH: 03 95441555

Ernies a smart guy so dont be stupid with him.

What have people used medication wise to jump off methadone?
 
hey i was drinking a 200ml bottle of robitussin or CWE 50 panadeine tablets to get 400mg of codeine a day...

I went onto 8mg suboxone then onto 60mg methadone.

Its been 3-4 months and ive stayed clean since day 1 of treatment... oh except that one time lol

Im now on half as much methadone, but my clinic in box hill is closing down so im going to reduce my dose as low as i can and then jump off cold turkey around mid december with my drs help,

If your in the eastern suburbs of melbourne see Dr Ernie Andrada at MediClinic in Clayton. PH: 03 95441555

Ernies a smart guy so dont be stupid with him.

What have people used medication wise to jump off methadone?

I used methadone for a few months... honestly.... try get a shitload of tramadol, and only take it orally in its longterm form, it'll ease withdrawal alot, believe me.. Methadone w/d for me, took about 3 months before i felt normal again and active etc.... I'll copy your info for that doc in.. if the box hill pharmacy was the one at the shopping centre, near the front, i used to go there... heh... thats the first time i went on the program and was on 60mg methadone too... not fun..
 
MrIbis:

Sorry to hear ur opiate usage going down a spiral. How long have u been using H on and off for? Also what is ur Route of administration?
 
I used methadone for a few months... honestly.... try get a shitload of tramadol, and only take it orally in its longterm form, it'll ease withdrawal alot, believe me..

tramadol has been by wd saviour on countless amounts of times. didnt matter whether id run out early on fent, oxy, bupe or id been on a bit of a bender and needed to help ease the pain while i stabilised back on my usual prescribed dose, tramadol has always filled that gap for me. i always seem to have it around when i need something the most. muscle relaxants (baclofen) has also been a great addition.

ill write up a pm to send you links from the thread in OD sometime tonight or tomorrow.
 
yeh i came across tramadol once a while ago, seemed useless at the time, knew nothing about it. Ill be looking for it again in the next week tho now.
Ive been cutting down .5 of a ml every 3 days lately, so fuckin annoying, i see the long journey ahead and just want to jump off cold now and get it over with. My dr calmed me down last time i was freaking like this. I apprently have to keep at this for another fortnight before he'll help me.
Problem #2 I am on Pristiq (dexvenlafaxine, SNRI antidepressant) to help with some lingering symptoms of borderline personality disorder... This contraindicates the use of tramadol (serontonin effects) and NSAIDS (baclofen, mobic, brufen), sux i have got packets of these in my "drawer"...
Do other people around here have a "draw" of countless pills and packets ?lol\
Im looking into some antihistamines for releif of anxiety, nausea, sleeplessness...
Not ideal but might do for now,
I wont be able to do this without my low dose friend seroquel. Takes the horn of anyones angry rhino! (sorry sleep dep)
out.
 
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